Violence Erupts At

Jamestown High Again

Second Time In Weeks Student Attacks In Class

JAMES CITY — For the second time in two weeks, a Jamestown High School student has been taken to Williamsburg Community Hospital after being assaulted by another student during class, police said.

The most recent incident occurred Tuesday. A 15-year-old boy attacked in a math class suffered a concussion, temporary memory loss and a split lip that required stitches, but returned to school the next day, police said. Meanwhile, police said, a 16-year-old boy accused in the attack was suspended from school and a malicious wounding charge has been filed against him.

"It's unbelievable that these kids can lose their tempers and lash out so quickly," said Officer Pat Murray, who is investigating the assault. A county police officer, Murray is assigned full-time to the two high schools in the Williamsburg-James City County public school system, Jamestown and Lafayette.

"Lately there's been more incidents of the physical stuff," particularly at Jamestown, he observed. "I don't know what the reason is."

He said he and Principal Andrew Cypress have been discussing the problem and ways to address it.

Murray also investigated the incident two weeks ago in which a 14-year-old was accused of attacking a 17-year-old during an algebra class. The 17-year-old suffered a lacerated spleen and underwent surgery to remove it. That assault seemed to be sparked by the two youths accidentally bumping into each other in the hallway right before class; once seated, the older student put his head down to sleep and was assaulted, police said.

As far as police can tell at this point, this week's confrontation grew out of nothing more complicated than one student's attempt to distribute candy to other students at 2:35 p.m., minutes before school ended.

"The suspect was passing out candy canes to classmates," said Investigator Alan Moore, a spokes-man for the James City County Police Department. "The victim asked for one. The suspect threw one at him, hitting the victim in the face. The victim threw it back, hitting the suspect in the head."

At that point, the suspect walked up to the victim and punched him in the face, Moore said. He would not name either student because of their ages.

A teacher was in the classroom when the incident occurred, but it happened so quickly that she didn't have time to intervene, Superintendent James Kent said.

The teacher had given the youth permission to hand out the candy, Kent added, although he didn't know why the candy was being passed out. He declined to identify the teacher.

He said the 16-year-old has been suspended from school for 10 days pending a hearing on a recommendation for long-term suspension.

Murray said he didn't know what kind of relationship the victim and suspect had or why something so seemingly trivial could escalate so quickly to violence. He has not had an opportunity to interview either party yet, he said. He was off-duty Tuesday when the assault occurred and did not find out about it until Wednesday afternoon, he said. He spent Wednesday and Thursday at Lafayette High School and is scheduled to return to Jamestown today.

Kent said school officials didn't immediately report the assault to police because the victim's parents said they would report it.

They picked him up at the school and took him to a doctor, who referred him to the hospital, where a plastic surgeon sewed up his lip, police said.

Murray said he ultimately learned about the attack when Cypress called him at Lafayette to tell him the boy's parents wanted to talk to him.

Patti Rosenberg can be reached at 229-5751 or by e-mail at prosenberg@dailypress.com and Mathew Paust can be reached at 229-2854 or by e-mail at mpaust@dailypress.com